While a vote on the motion was due to be taken next Thursday, it was agreed to accept an amendment from Fianna Fáil without a vote for the Dail to also declare both a climate and biodiversity emergency.

The amendment also calls on the Citizens’ Assembly to examine how the State can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss.

The Fianna Fáil amendment was moved by Deputy Timmy Dooley but was put forward by Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan as there were no Fianna Fáil members in the chamber at the time of a proposed vote.

Speaking this evening, Mr Dooley said that biodiversity loss is an “existential threat linked to the climate crisis”.

He said that action in Ireland is “lacking” to date, calling for biodiversity protection to be integrated into policy decisions across all departments.

He also called for better enforcement of environmental law and enhanced funding for the environmental and conservation sectors.

The Green Party, People Before Profit and Sinn Fein also raised amendments that would see the Dail declare a climate emergency.

The Sinn Fein amendment also called for the Dail to reject the endorsement of an increase in the carbon tax.

Extinction Rebellion Dublin April 2019 Photo: Niall Sargent

Ecological collapse

Calls for the state to declare an ecological emergency have risen in recent months as the rate of biodiversity decline increases rapidly.

On Monday, a UN-backed report found one million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction and declining at rates unprecedented in human history.

Additionally, a report from the World Wildlife Fund and the
Zoological Society of London released last October found that 60 percent of the
world’s large animals had disappeared since the 1970s.

Around one-third of Ireland’s 98 wild bee species are threatened with extinction, while recent findings show that over 60 per cent of the 202 species of commonly occurring birds in Ireland is now on the red and amber conservation lists.

Over 90 per cent of 58 listed habitats in Ireland also have an ‘inadequate’ or ‘bad’ status and just over half of the 61 European protected species in Ireland are in a ‘favourable’ conservation status.

Ireland remains well off track to meet its 2020 and 2030 climate targets and is singled out as one of the worst countries in Europe for addressing climate change.

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said that there is now a real opportunity for the political system to “recognise the scale of the [climate] challenge” and commit to begin taking the steps “needed to turn the ship around”.

“We are glad that Dail Eireann has declared a climate and biodiversity emergency and has accepted and endorsed the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action.

“Our Parliament is the second national parliament to pass such a motion but it will be of little meaning unless we are now willing to act on the recommendations of the Committee and of the Citizens Assembly.”

Protesters in both Dublin and Cork last week called on the State to declare a climate emergency – a key demand of both the school strikes movement and Extinction Rebellion.

The Government has said that it will feed the
recommendations into its upcoming All-of-Government climate plan and the National
Energy and Climate Plan that will be sent to the European Commission later
this year.

Overall, the report is widely ambitious as the Committee
recognises that the window of opportunity to reduce emissions and avoid severe
climate impacts is rapidly closing.

The report recommends replacing our current self-designated
target of 80 per cent emissions reductions by 2050 with a new target of net
zero emissions by mid-century that is set in stone in new climate legislation.

Other recommendations accepted by the Committee include
calls for the Government to establish a just transition taskforce focused on
workers in the Midlands and a new legal framework for tackling climate change.

Recommendations to embed climate into the educational
curriculum and for new broadcast media guidelines for climate coverage were
also accepted.

About the Author

Niall Sargent

Niall is the Editor of The Green News. He is a multimedia journalist, with an MA in Investigative Journalism from City University, London